sunday pasta

there are days Adrian and i look for pasta. he can cook a mean spaghetti bolognese but i love my seafood pasta too. although i could cook it (thank you Delia Smith cheats), its not a very practical menu to do, to buy a variety of seafood for one person to eat (Adrian's not much of a seafood man). Seafood is priced high in this country and buying a variety of seafood, (scallop,prawns, mussells and squid) to add to the pasta and having leftovers is not too attractive a prospect (one good cook never wastes -Nigella Lawson).

photos taken on sunday 26th of june.

{Canon G10 photos}

bread basket and calamares...and one of my fave pasta: gamberi (spicy and rich).

(iphone photos) :we stayed where we had a view of the lake...and just a plate of goodness.

one afternoon in NatGeo cafe

browsing for maps. Adrian and i want to get a world map that can cover an entire wall.

(ps. backlog photos)

National Geographic classic souvenirs

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kind and dependable. that's his name

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the National Geographic cafe's ceiling has some hanging lamps from different countries

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it was a rain-sun-rain-sun kind of afternoon

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after this was a dinner date at one of our cheap chinese buffet haunts.. sometimes, the need for MSG is too much,i have to have them,hehe.

(no photos of the chinese buffet though...grease was better without the sequel, *wink*)

carnaby

the beatles and mary quant are two things i always associate with carnaby...adrian doesnt get it. he thinks my view about carnaby street is very sixties. i blame it on my father, the original anglophile i have first come across in my life. when i explained to adrian how my father used to talk about the beatles and carnaby street (twiggy,mary quant,), i always think of all the sixties scenes.

so when i moved to England, and was first shown the famous street, i was a little bit let down of its shop-laden streets. but as soon as i got to 'live' and 'thrive' in the city where my face is normally at at least 2x a week, ive gotten to love it again, even without the imagery my father used to tell me. yes, it is shop-infested, but mostly indie boutiques and mostly pure British brands or small chains. this is also a favourite haunt of mine and my sister when we used to walk after every school night (make up school) in oxford circus, have a snack and a mini shop in some of the cosmetic shops.

one afternoon, adrian and i were craving for meat. i was boasting about some pastrami sandwhich that Ana and i used to have after make up school. so i took him there.

and yes,he was impressed by the sandwhich of choice. while i had a burger (one of the best) to satiate a craving that was ongoing through my research period.

some pictures of the day.

adrian listening to me rave about the pastrami sandwhich..the very extensive menu board

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i love this little burger place...and this street

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Jones the bootmaker just across the Carnaby Burger co..just across where we sat

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and the look of the place

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that was his new yorker (name of) sandwhich..real red meat

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nice chunky chips;-)

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walking around the street corners ,there are some interesting shop displays..

the pic on the right was taken for my friend Patricia..i thought of her when i saw that dress (thinking that it would be her style..it'll look good with jeans or just as a dress )

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by the sea

a few weeks ago, adrian and i went to have fish and chips dinner (and a Rossi's ice cream: a must!) by an old english seaside town, called southend-on-sea.

its 35 minutes drive away on a good day, or 45 mins in peak times.


some photos i took.

seaside restos

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ageless romance

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the sea makes me miss home

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seaside wares

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windwhirls

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inside Rossi's ice cream restaurant

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a hundred choices...

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i had coffee flavour while adrian had strawberry + rhum & raisin

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the inside of the resto

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we moved to the nearby "estuary restaurant" who serves one of the best f&c.

by the time we got to fish and chips, i had enough of picture taking.

oh well, there will be more of that soon, too:-)

atay

if you dont like the sight of liver, look away now!

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on friday night,i cooked bacon and liver for adrian and my stepson. its an old english recipe, but i tweaked it abit, i used my mom's adobo recipe,and adrian likes liver and bacon now.

the bacon came from the frozen stuff we bought from the organic stall from the Taste of London Festival on Sunday,and the liver were butcher bought of course.

the liver and bacon recipe uses lamb's liver. and since i am not keen on lamb's liver (quite too strong), i cooked chicken liver for myself (which is one of my faves).

we cleaned our palate afterwards with chocolate mousse or lemon sorbet we bought from the Bonne Maman tent at the Taste festival

just pics i took of the food. a very cheap meal this one was.


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Adrian likes this version of bacon and liver dish, and it was his son's first taste of the dish and he had a big bowl of rice with it (and a second helping). in fact, that one's the stepson's plate (with rice) and adrian had potatoes with his.

my own..best paired with hot steaming jasmine rice.

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monsterrrr

i just saw this advert tonight. (u can tell i dont watch much prime time tv).

its got such a lovely feeling for an advert.


im sure most of you have seen this, but i just wanted to share this for those who haven't.

"the web is what you make of it"..

blog dry

the computer stares at me in white.

my fingers are typing untintelligible words.

my mind keeps shooting blank.

what is happening?

im blog dry. wrung to the skin.

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(i'm just hexing the blog dry curse. because more often than not, once i start typing, all the ideas i thought while i was at work, or doing something else, and thought i must write it down on this blog, are somewhat shy tonight. see next entry if they do).

conversations with kharla

{photo: kharla, in one of her muni-muni moments}

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i feel so tired, because i had an all-nighter with my cousin and bestfriend, Kharla;-) and before her, i had a two hour conversation on the phone with my mum.

stressed too from work but thats another blog altogether.


conversations about bags(we always do)

kharla: your bag at the Sade concert was nice.
Chelo: that was high street
kharla: that was nice, but klaro lang puno kaayo, naa nasad ka (it was nice but you overfilled it again, as usual).

(kharla then proceeded to teach me how to minimalise the contents of my bag. she's the queen of light packing).

*my family has a problem with my overfilling my bags, and they often joke that if anyone would try to steal it will never succeed in running far as they will end up with shoulder problems)

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kharla: di lagi ka tig post ug pictures sa imong mga holidays sa FB noh? (i notice you dont put holiday pics on FB)
chelo: yeah, apart from tapulan ko, i use FB as a social networking, to connect with old and new friends, like a tambayan.
kharla: yeah,bitaw, i noticed that.

*ahh, Facebook is one of my favourite hang-outs to connect with my family and friends. and as much as i love using it to see my family and friends, i know i wont be seen on it when im in cebu for a holiday*

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(told her about an incident on FB where one/lady from childhood told me, "im just like you, ive ended up with a caucasian man" and ive read your multiply site" when i asked her how she knew about it "i googled you" *gasp*..and recently just told me one of my exes 'hurt" her)

kharla: maybe she wants to be friends with you or be close to you
chelo; hello, im so accessible in FB. im easy to befriend. if someone's nice to me, why will i be awful to them?
kharla: true, you are very friendly.
kharla; maybe,she's obsessed to be like you.
chelo: hmmnn, very weird.

(in my mind, she needs to gain 200 more pounds then).


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i know kharla comes on this site so i just need to let her know, i love my phonecalls to her. apart from my phonecalls to my family, it will be the death of me if i cannot talk to them.

kharl, we still have not finished all topics we wanted to cover, as per usual. (topics regarding our 2013 plans..get ready for a mountain hiking adventure,,haha)..;-)

thanks kharl..for everything;-)

Sade

tuesday,31st of May,2011.

Sade concert.

one of the best ive seen.

another long-wished for dream artist to see on stage.

L: got a short hop to the O2..R:you want a bite of muffin?..bad timing

ain't he a love?

L: ready? not...R: fernando poe pose,hehe

the dome

my gentle giant bear

a beautiful building in the forecourt

nanudlay ko that day..;-) a rarity these days

busy night at the O2..i love their restaurants there

chose this brazilian.resto..meat lovers only..

we had the meat lovers grill buffet..pure angus sirloin, shish lamb, chicken hearts, chicken parts, pork parts, and all the good carnivorous grub in one sitting..first time ever i heard adrian said no to the waiter who kept piling out plates with different meat...we said we'll bring some people there;-)

the salad and bread buffet

the bar downstairs

lovely pre concert meal

the cinema area of the O2

we got in around 7:30..the concert started an hour later..

sade struck

getting filled

one of the front acts..brit jamaican band: the jolly boys

the rest of the photos of the night were blurry and random..(no DSLRs allowed in concert halls as i have realised from the last time)

its hard to keep up in the excitement of seeing her live..

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i urge all Sade fans to see her live..

she took 18 years to do another tour in london..

and who knows when the next time is..;-)

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i will find time to share the videos this week;-)